President Donald Trump’s chaotic second administration has taken the U.S. down a peg internationally, political expert David Rothkopf argues.
Appearing on The Daily Beast Podcast, Rothkopf said that the 79-year-old president’s upcoming trip to China marks a drastic shift in global power dynamics.
“I think Donald Trump may be, on this trip, the first time a U.S. president has ever gone to China where the U.S. president wasn’t the most powerful man in the room. The Chinese president will be,” Rothkopf told host Joanna Coles. “It is what it is.”
Trump is scheduled to land in Beijing on Wednesday night, where he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping through Friday amid the ongoing Iran war, which Trump started over 10 weeks ago.
China is Iran’s top trading partner and buyer of oil, no doubt making the ongoing conflict a tricky topic between the two superpowers.
“But what he wants is, you know, some kind of wins,” Rothkopf said. “He does not want to fight with the Chinese. I know The New York Times today has a story that both sides are ready to stand tough with each other. That’s because they’re talking to people in both governments who are saying that, right? They want to appear tough.“
“But what Trump wants is some deals, and he’s gonna get the deal the way he usually gets deals, which is to say, he’s going to take a problem that he created and undo it. That’s how he gets wins this time around,” he continued.
Rothkopf hypothesized that Trump will likely remove the tariffs on China that he imposed himself, while China agrees to buy some American products, which he will chalk up as a win. The political expert noted that strategy was “exactly what happened in his last term, and they didn’t buy the stuff.”
“They know that they don’t have to follow through and that these are nonbinding promises,” he added.
“And I don’t know, he’ll get some kind of deal on rare earth metals or something. And he’ll say, ‘Look, it was fantastic. And there was a big dinner, and there was a toast, and they love me, and Xi Jinping put his arm around me, and so by association, I’m a great man because he’s a great man,’” Rothkopf said. “That’s what he wants.”
Coles mentioned that oftentimes when leaders are struggling with approval at home, “they go abroad looking for international validation,” before asking Rothkopf if Trump’s upcoming trip resembles “another PR exercise.”
“First of all, second-term presidents tend to do this,” the analyst replied. “They realize that, you know, they’re lame ducks and they have less influence here, and so they travel more. They go around the world. But... there’s a long history of world leaders making their way to China, the Middle Kingdom, because it was so important.”
“In this case, we have our wannabe king going to their successor to the emperor,” he continued. “But Xi Jinping’s the emperor. And what’s going to happen is that they’re going to do just what has happened throughout history.”
Rothkopf then mentioned the Grand Kowtow, a historic ritual performed involving three kneelings and nine prostrations, intended to display one’s utmost respect and submission before the emperor.
“And Trump’s going to do a bunch of that. You just know that he is,” Rothkopf said. “And in private meetings—this is what really worries people—is he going to give a wink and a nod and say, ‘Well, I don’t really care so much about Taiwan,’ or, you know, ‘Help me out a little bit on Iran, and I’ll help you out a little bit on Taiwan,’ or whatever, you know?"
“Nobody knows, because everybody knows Trump doesn’t actually believe in anything that, you know, doesn’t put money in his bank account or make him look better,” he added. “And those are the things I’d watch for coming out of any trip of Trump anywhere.”
The White House did not immediately return the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
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